


Chest Thumping Hides My Beating Heart

by by_no_one_more_than_me (Lady_Cleo)



Category: Spy (2015)
Genre: F/M, Gen, POV Alternating, everyone can agree Susan Cooper is sweet, it wasn't just male rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-03 20:43:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4114330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Cleo/pseuds/by_no_one_more_than_me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fine and Ford think about Susan</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chest Thumping Hides My Beating Heart

Bradley Fine hadn’t always known how Coop… _Susan_ felt about him, but if he were under the effects of sodium pentothal? He had to admit he’d suspected. He kept her at arm’s length for a reason, and only part of it was because he liked the view from that distance.

He was Bradley Fine, the finest agent in the world, named Underground Esquire’s second sexiest agent 3 years running. (Although as Susan pointed out, stroking his arm in a comforting and bizarrely arousing way, it was impossible to beat Sean Connery no matter how hard one tried.) He had women (and men) throwing themselves at his loafers, and they were all more classically attractive than Susan Cooper.

Which wasn’t to say that he didn’t like her. He _adored_ her. She was smart and funny. She gave great hugs. She looked after him. She was amazing in his ear – sweet, strong, a little flirty, stern when she had to be, and a literal lifesaver.

He just didn't know what to **do** with her. Dinner was all well and good, the occasional bouquet for taking care of his house, wondering what her cats were like. But he couldn't _date_ her- the thought never crossed his mind.

Which was why given the choice between a stunning set of jade earrings that he knew would match her eyes or a crazy cupcake with crazy eyes and an adjustable toggle... he'd gone with the cupcake. It was safer for all concerned. Safe was the best thing. Susan in his ear kept him safe.

He liked her in there, the peanut butter to his jelly… and so yeah, he’d sniped her. But having Susan in the field was crazy… and he hated the idea of her being hurt even more than the (incredibly remote) possibility she might actually show him up out in the real world.

So he took little cuts at the support beams of her self-esteem (which he already knew was as shaky as a tower made of toothpicks and toilet paper), and planted little seeds of doubt that kept her right where he needed her- safe, sound, and in his ear.

He told himself it couldn’t hurt. He wished he’d been right.

And he really wishes she’d said yes when he asked her to dinner this time.

* * *

Rick Ford was a man’s man. Raised on Charlie Bronson and Mickey Spillane novels and Sean Connery’s cover stories, he was a balls-to-the-wall, in your face unless he couldn’t be, take no prisoners unless that was the job, kind of spy.

He was also unfortunately hot for the plushy support analyst Susan Cooper. It had been the chocolate cake that did it. Just back from a blazing assignment in Borneo, all he’d wanted was something sweet. After leaving the NERDS (Necessary Equipment, Research and Devices Squad) he’d followed his nose down to the basement where he’d spotted a half-sliced masterpiece. Definitely chocolate, but with traces of cinnamon and heat like Mexican Hot Cocoa. A dash of cayenne and black peppers unfurled as he chewed… unless his taste buds hadn’t grown back right. Grabbing the knife for another slice, he’d wheeled as someone appeared at his elbow and almost plunged the point through one rather lovely green eye.

A tragedy to deprive the world of that shy smile, to be sure, but one that would have been compounded by the loss of the confection’s creator. He was opening his mouth to tell her so, or ask her to dinner, or say ‘sod it’ and just propose…when Fine had pitched up and she’d gone all doe-eyed and tripped over herself to get his dry cleaning and had frowned when Ford turned his characteristic snark on the oblivious (and unworthy) object of her affection.

After that, he avoided the basement. But there was still the occasional office party made less insufferable by a homemade baked good and a chance to watch her from the shadows, or the Company’s holiday bash made bearable by the sight of Susan wearing slightly askew antlers… and the silky sweetness of her egg nog… and the look on Fine’s face when he opened his Secret Santa gift from Ford. Whatever he told Susan in the casino that night, it hadn’t just been standard male rivalry. (Although honestly most of whatever he _had_ said had been stricken from his memory by the sight of her – looking like a dark angel, all sable locks and flowing black – and the fact that for once, he’d managed to compliment her truthfully without his bitter tongue getting in the way. At least for a while.)

He admired Fine’s fieldwork, and would always have his back as a fellow agent. But he didn’t quite like him anymore, not since Susan.

He always told himself she deserved better.

Now, he just had to make sure she’d gotten it.

**Author's Note:**

> When Susan pointed out Ford's treatment of Fine in the past I started to put together that maybe it was because Ford liked her and she liked Fine. Then I was swooning a bit over his cover compliments in the casino and this sort of happened.  
> It's a one-shot for now, but I'm open to suggestions if you guys would like to see it continue.  
> Comments and kudos appreciated.


End file.
